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• North Dakota National Guard

Related Stories

National Guard Bureau

• North Dakota adjutant general gets ‘blogged’ down in flood response
• Time critical in North Dakota Guard's battle against flooding
• Six states send troops to flood duty in North Dakota
• Minnesota Guard joins with community to battle flood

Colorado

• Colorado Guard conducts blizzard relief operations

Minnesota

• Minnesota governor visits Soldiers during flood fight
• 133rd Airlift Wing Airmen join flood fight
• Fatigued Guard Members and Volunteers Battle Rising Red River Together
• The JCP, critical to the fight
• Minnesota Guard assists in flood efforts
• N.D., Minnesota Guard respond to Red River Valley flooding

North Dakota

• New flood barrier is successful in North Dakota
• Border town remains focus flood fight in Northeastern N.D.
• 231st Fights the Flood in Barnes County
• Guard works to keep troops fed in flood fight
• Guardsmen keep up with studies while fighting floods
• Soldiers and Airmen fight the flood in southeast North Dakota
• Emotions flood Guardsmen returning to hometowns for duty
• 817th supports flood fight in Jamestown
• Guard Soldiers Join Valley City in Conserving Water
• Guard reinforces dam spillway near LaMoure
• Guard slows spillover at Cottonwood Creek Dam from three directions
• North Dakota Guard responds to Barnes County flooding
• North Dakota's top enlisted Soldier visits troops fighting floods
• Engineers know what to look for along Valley City’s dikes
• North Dakota Air Guard assists in flood fight
• Community building is hub for Guard Soldiers, emergency workers
• Soldiers strive to save homes on Easter
• North Dakota Guard remains on duty through weekend to prepare for crests
• Bismarck busload joins battle in Burlington
• Area organizations donate to activated Guard members
• North Dakota Soldiers lend a hand in Pembina flood fight
• Drayton, N.D., city leader, Soldier battles high water in hometown
• Counselor keeps close watch on Guardsmen’s mental health
• Guard Soldiers provide Pembina with added assurance
• North Dakota NCO displays coolness under pressure
• North Dakota Guardsman Steps Up to Help, Whether it’s Iraq, Vegas or Fargo
• JISCC opens communication for military, civilian agencies in flood fight
• Grand Forks Soldiers bring flood fight to their own backyards
• N.D. Guard Soldiers Build Portable Floodwall Around Pembina Port-of-Entry
• Guard QRF responds to flood threat near Kindred, N.D.
• North Dakota Guardsmen keep it light at traffic control points
• Guardsmen patrol Fargo’s dike lines around the clock
• North Dakota Guard Soldiers keep watch
• Shriners support Guardsmen conducting flood missions
• North Dakota Press Releases
• Fact Sheet - Flooding Operations 2009
• N.D. Guard uses giant sandbags to plug dike near school
• North Dakota chaplains ensure military flood fighters’ spirits are up
• North Dakota community takes break from flood duty to send off deploying troops
• North Dakota Guardsmen work side-by-side with civilian volunteers to save Fargo
• Deployment-hardened Soldiers, Airmen use familiar barriers to dam rising floodwaters

South Dakota

• North Dakota leadership thanks South Dakota Guardsmen
• South Dakota Guard defends school from floodwaters
• South Dakota Soldiers united in flooding efforts
• South Dakota Guardsmen assist North Dakota flooding operations
• South Dakota Soldiers observe water levels near capital
• South Dakota Guard moves from blizzard support to flood support mission
• S.D. Guard remains ready to support communities after winter storm

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin Guard to help with North Dakota flood relief efforts

Videos

You Tube: North Dakota flood video
Runtime: 0:59
Preparing explosives for ice jam in Bismarck, North Dakota.


Flood Fight 2009
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 1:55
Package about the work being done by the Minn. National Guard during the floods of March 2009. visits Guard


Minnesota Red River Flood - National Guard Blackhawk Footage
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 3:42
B-Roll of a UH-60 Blackhawk flying over the Moorehead area of Minnesota along the Red River. Scenes include aerial views of a reconnaissance mission along the Red River above Moorehead, MN.


Manning the Line
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 5:08
B-roll of Minn. National Guard Soldiers moving sandbags from a loading point to a line in South Moorehead where they are unloaded by locals and volunteers from across the region.


Interview - Lt. Col. Andy Englehardt, 2-136 CAB CDR
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 4:22
Talks to a military reporter in western Minn. about the Minn. National Guard's role in response to the flooding of the Red River.


Interviews - Flood Fight 2009
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 2:58
Minnesota National Guard's role in preparing for the Red River flood in Western Minn. Soldiers and a local talk about traffic control points and sandbagging operations.


Holding the Line
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 2:46
-Roll of Minnesota National Guard members working with local emergency responders to pump water and stacking bags to block the rising waters.


Minnesota National Guard Red River Flood Evacuation
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 2:59
Info: B-Roll of Minnesota National Guardsmen assisting residents trapped by melting ice and flood waters.



Interview - Brigadier General Joe Kelly, ATAG, MNNG
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 3:49
Talks about the work of the National Guard in providing relief and support during flood conditions in Minnesota and the support his team provides to the effort.


Securing the Neighborhoods
By: SSG W. Michael Houk
Runtime: 2:57
Army National Guard providing a secure checkpoint. Scenes include Soldiers guiding people away from flooded areas and preventing theft of sandbags.

North Dakota Guardsmen in a statewide flood fight - again

By Spc. Chris Erickson
North Dakota National Guard

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. William Griffin, right, assigned to the 136th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, drives a Humvee on a flooded road in Fort Ransom, N.D., April 15, 2009. Griffin and Spc. Jessica Sandberg, assigned to the 132nd Quartermaster Battalion, are making a welfare visit to a rural civilian whose home is surrounded by water. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. David H. Lipp)
download hi-res photo

BISMARCK, N.D., (4/14/09) - The number of National Guardsmen fighting rising water levels in North Dakota has more than doubled from last week.

More than 1,000 additional members of the North Dakota National Guard were activated Monday, adding to a force of about 900 who were already on active duty. This is about 500 fewer service members than were on duty during the Red River's first crest in Fargo earlier this month.

The Soldiers and Airmen are helping to fight flooding throughout the state by placing sandbags, operating pumps, patrolling dikes and forming quick reaction forces in order to respond to any levee that doesn’t hold.

Residents have been grateful for the help. Sgt. 1st Class Freddie Griffin leads a team of about a dozen Soldiers of the 134th Quartermaster Detachment in Pembina, where they have been patrolling the dike system for about a week.

“The people here have been great to us,” Griffin said. “They are showing us their appreciation daily.”

In Burlington, Soldiers are operating a sandbag site and responding to area flood missions. A quick response force (QRF) already responded to homes affected by Des Lacs River flooding and the team used 18,000 sandbags to build a dike around three separate homes. A team is also in place to serve the Minot area.

Guardsmen are patrolling dikes in many other parts of the state, as well, including Drayton, Jamestown, southeast Grand Forks, Lisbon and Wahpeton. They also are operating pumps at numerous locations, and have additional pumps on standby in areas that may be at risk again, such as Oxbow.

They have been improving roads in Grant County, and staging in Fargo and West Fargo to support the surrounding area. In the past week, Guardsmen from these locations have responded to overland flooding west of West Fargo, at Willow Creek, and to provide support at the Absaraka dam. They have branched out to support Casselton, Grand Rapids, Hickson, Kindred and other locations in southeastern North Dakota.

Additional efforts are being focused in Lisbon and Valley City, where Guardsmen are monitoring dikes for leaks, operating pumps and generators, and providing traffic control points. The Guard brought additional heavy equipment to both cities, where it will be used if an evacuation becomes necessary.

In Valley City, the Guard continues to step up efforts, with about 500 Guardsmen currently on site.

QRFs have responded to leaks and breaches, and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was on the scene this past weekend to place about 20 one-ton sandbags to reinforce the dike near the 8th Avenue bridge.

The Guard established a secondary operations center in Valley City today to help coordinate flood fighting efforts there.

Spc. Dustin Kirschenmann of the 817th Engineer Company (Sappers) has been activated for flood duty since March 23. The 817th worked first in Fargo and then moved to Valley City over the weekend to patrol dikes. They are anticipating duty in Jamestown, as well. Kirschenmann helps man the phones in the unit’s tactical operations center, receiving dike condition reports.

On Monday, his 45th call was about a major leak at a pump site. Kirschenmann received the report and called the dike contractor, telling them they needed to send dirt trucks out and rebuild the leaky spot.

“We’re running so ragged we don’t even think about it,” he said. “We’re just doing what we need to do.”

Kirschenmann said the job “can be exciting, that’s for sure.”

“I would rather be bored,” he said. “If we were bored, that would mean everything was going well.”

Photos

MN Governor
visits Guard


Minnesota
aerial shots


MN Flood
operations


Winter Storms



Minnesota Flood



Minnesota Sandbagging



National Guard Soldiers and Airmen Fight Flooding


North Dakota Army National Guard Fights Floods in Fargo, North Dakota